We are only 30 days into the new year and 2018 has seen no shortage of major developments within the technology industry. From major updates coming to the YouTube monetization policy to Apple’s new Artist Analytics Dashboard––technology’s top power players were quick to show off the innovation they have planned for 2018. In case you missed it, here are some of the top stories that kicked off the year:
Important Changes Coming To The YouTube Monetization Policy
Earlier this month, YouTube revealed that there would be major changes coming to its current monetization policy that will be implemented over the next few weeks. The new YouTube monetization policy states that any new creator must meet a minimum of over 1,000 subscribers and over 4,000 hours of watch time over the past 12 months to be eligible to apply for its YouTube Partner Program. YouTube will offer existing channels a 30-day grace period to reach these new benchmarks before the threshold is implemented on February 20th. On that date, if the existing channel does not meet the minimum requirements, it will no longer be able to generate money on YouTube until the criteria are met. The new changes to YouTube monetization stem from the platform’s new initiative to protect its creators’ ecosystem and ensure revenue is more stable. Since 2017 was a very tumultuous year for the video-hosting platform, where controversial videos like Logan Paul’s ‘suicide forest’ nabbed the #1 Trending spot, YouTube realized its previous monetization requirement of only 10,000-lifetime views was not a high enough standard. The new YouTube monetization policy will target these “spammers, impersonators, and other bad actors” that do not meet YouTube Community Standards while rewarding the creators and their content that make the platform great. The new YouTube monetization policy will also help the platform better identify the creators that are contributing positively to the platform and drive more ad revenue in their direction.
Apple (Finally) Debuts Analytics Dashboard For Music Creators
Apple Music has officially rolled out the initial beta of its brand new analytics dashboard, Apple Music for Artists, to its first wave of real creators. The new dashboard will break down hundreds of data points into actionable analytics to provide its creators important information about their fans’ listening and buying habits. Its homepage will offer users a variety of metrics including the current number of plays, spins, song purchases, and album purchases. Users can specify this data based on specific time periods. To look at more significant and cumulative milestones, the dashboard’s Insights panel will display information like all-time number of plays and purchases. For more granular data, creators can drill down data by geographic location and other listener demographics like gender and age. Similar to Spotify Artist analytics dashboard, Apple Music for Artists will enable creators to see which playlists their content is featured on and how their content is trending over time. While Apple for Artists is entering the analytics game two years later than its major streaming competitors like Spotify, Pandora, and YouTube, the technology giant hopes that its robust data collection will be enough to make up for lost time. Currently, Apple Music for Artists, is only available for testing among a limited segment of users, like Vydia creator and Grammy nominee Daniel Caesar, however, it is projected to launch fully this Spring.
Facebook Leverages The Power Of Groups To Launch New ‘Watch Party’
Facebook is testing a brand new feature, Watch Party, to create an entirely new social video viewing experience for its 2 billion monthly active users. Watch Party will live within Groups and will enable group members to collectively view, comment, and interact with videos in real-time within the same space. Videos will be chosen by group administrators and moderators and can include any public Facebook video (Live or pre-recorded). The idea behind the new Watch Party feature emerged from the fact that Facebook Live videos generate 6 times more engagement than regular videos on the same platform. Facebook has designed Watch Party to encourage the same sort of social interaction for both Live and pre-recorded video by creating a more intimate viewing experience within Groups. More than 1 billion Facebook users already use the Groups feature to connect and share content with people of similar interests. Facebook’s Watch Party feature is looking to tap into this massive audience to increase video engagement by offering users more tailored content (based on the Groups interest) while simultaneously offering users more of an opportunity to be heard (rather than commenting on a video that is public on the News Feed). Currently, there are no plans monetize videos on Watch Party just yet, however, Facebook will be looking to expand the feature beyond Groups and potentially monetize in the future.
Sounds.com Offers Creators A New Subscription Service For Music Samples
If you’re a creator looking for new music samples for your video content, look no further than the recently launched subscription service Sounds.com. It provides an easy way to access, download, and build personal libraries of royalty-free samples, loops and sound packs for use in personal or commercial work. Although Sounds.com can be compared to many existing subscription-based sample platforms like Splice Sounds, there is one major difference that sets it apart: Sounds.com offers unlimited access and downloads for one flat monthly fee (rather than limiting creators to a set number of credits to redeem samples). There are two different tiers users can opt into, the ‘Free Tier’ which allows users to explore the interface in full with the ability to download a small selection of loops and samples, and the ‘Pro Tier’ which unlocks unlimited sample downloads and access to exclusive premium content that is updated weekly. Sounds.com offers a wide range of genres along with an excess of 500,000 sounds from notable sample providers. With no requirement to sign up/subscribe to check out their inventory, all creators have the ability to check out this awesome new platform and what they have to offer.
This is only the beginning of technology innovation in 2018! Keep up to date with the latest by following us on all of our socials and check back here for our weekly blogs!